RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Joe Foss]

With three games to play, six teams still have a chance at claiming one of the top 4 seeds and a bye into the tournament quarterfinals. #1 Ohio has clinched one of those spots, and would clinch the top seed with a win tomorrow vs. Buffalo. I don't think #2 Central Michigan has quite clinched a spot, but they're up 2 games on both #3 Ball State and #4 Toledo, so they're getting close. Eastern Michigan, currently at #5, could climb into the top 4 with a win tomorrow vs. Ball State. #6 Akron still has a shot, but at two games behind with three to play, it's a long one.

Senior days tomorrow:

Bowling Green: Miriam Justinger, Lauren Tibbs

Eastern Michigan: Kabria Walker, Chanise Baldwin, Sera Ozelci, Rachel Kehoe. The Eagles will also honor Shanise Heady, who would have been a senior this year.

Ohio: Mariah Harris, Lexie Baldwin, Kiyanna Black.

The Bobcats will also raise the first banner ever of a women's basketball player in the Convo. Carolyn Mast (now Daugherty) played from 1982-1986, and still holds most of Ohio's season and career records in just about every major offensive category. She was a three-time MAC POY, a two-time All-American, and a member of Ohio's first NCAA tournament team.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Final Buffalo 70, Ohio 58. The Bulls proved the first time was no fluke, as they beat the Bobcats for the second time this season. UB is the only team to beat Ohio in conference play and the only team to beat Ohio on its home floor this season.

The defense the Bulls used was the extended 2-3 or 3-2 zone that many teams have tried against Ohio. But Buffalo has the players to make that defense work against the five-out Ohio offense. The Bulls are a tough match-up for Ohio in the same way that Duquesne was. Both teams have guards that can match Ohio's in quickness, plus they have true bigs that can disrupt scoring drives to the rim. The guards can concentrate on preventing Ohio from getting clean looks at threes, knowing that their posts can handle the drives. Since Ohio's posts do not represent a significant scoring threat inside, and since the guards have no mid-range game, stopping the threes stops the offense. Today Ohio shot just 6-28 from three.

Ohio also shot itself in the foot today. Kiyanna Black picked up a technical for kicking at a Bulls player who had tied Black up. She eventually fouled out after just 22 minutes of play and 13 points on 3-12 shooting. Quiera Lampkins had 10 turnovers today -- about half of them on traveling calls and the rest the result of trying to do too much while Black was on the bench. Nobody else seemed to want the ball during crunch time.

Good games for UB's Joanna Smith and Stephanie Reid, with 21 points each. Reid is developing into a fine point guard, and also had 8 assists. Katherine Ups scored six big points in the fourth quarter to give Buffalo a lead they never gave up.

Other scores today:

Akron 70, Kent State 60
Central Michigan 73, Western Michigan 61
Bowling Green 76, Miami 56
Ball State 67, Eastern Michigan 63
Toledo 89, Northern Illinois 83 (OT)

The results mean there is no change in the top four seeds of Ohio, CMU, Ball State and Toledo. EMU and Akron are both two games back of the fourth seed with just two to play.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[shadowboxer]

OU and Buffalo remind me, loosely, of Toledo and EMU. That last game we lost to EMU had me speculating that another team took over our players bodies at CMU, since I did not recognize the players who had taken the floor against EMU the other night at UT.

The games between NIU and Toledo have often been toss ups as well, usually due to the tenacious defense of each team. Today's game was Toledo's to lose, as they looked in control basically until middle of second half. NIU went on an 11-2 run, and the game was tight for most of 4th qtr. Layman(sp?), for NIU, pulled NIU along with her strong scoring and insightful plays, resulting in the OT. Toledo then reasserted its momentum and confidence to pull and finally stay ahead to close the deal.

Breanae Harris continued to be key, w/21 pts, and the interior lineup of Monakana, Kayla MacIntyre, and Bravo-Harriet kept the basket filled w/field goals & foul shots. There were occasional 3's from the 2 Englanders, as well as the rapid fire freshman guard, Hallie Printz. 89-83(OT) has to be close to the highest scoring games for the usually defensively tight-fisted of UTvNIU.

And I still want MacIntyre for Freshman of the Year. Any other candidates?

[BallState1984]

Going to be interesting the next few days in Muncie, to say the least. Moriah Monaco broke her slump in a big way Saturday by dropping eight triples on the Hurons. Could not come at a better time since Jill Morrison is out with a broken foot and my candidate for SMOY Frannie Frazier still feeling the effects of a unspecified injury suffered in the game against Western.

Nathalie Fontaine just may make senior night her night whereas she is 23 points away from overtaking Tamara Bowie as the all time scoring leader for Ball State.

Curious to see if Allie Lehman from Northern will still have a hot hand Wednesday or still has a grudge from having Renee Bennett flipping her ass over tea kettle from the last game. Bennett did get yelled at by her dad for that move because she did not take the time to help Lehman up from the floor. It was not a deliberate move, just two big girls got tangled. On the other hand, that move is what prompted Morrison to tell me she outsourced the weekly butt beating she promises me to Bennett.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

Two senior nights tonight:

Ball State: Nathalie Fontaine, Shelby Merder
Western Michigan: Alex Morton, Jessica Jessing, Deborah Meeks

Notably absent from the list of senior honorees on the WMU website is Miracle Woods. She continues to be listed on the roster as a senior, but is not otherwise mentioned in connection with senior night. She has missed the last five games with no explanation from the school.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Finals from tonight:

Toledo (12-5) 76, Central Michigan (13-4) 72
Kent State (3-14) 59, Miami (3-14) 53
Ball State (12-5) 76, Northern Illinois (4-13) 68
Eastern Michigan (10-7) 63, Western Michigan (7-10) 52
Akron (10-7) 62, Buffalo (7-10) 49
Ohio (15-2) 75, Bowling Green (6-11) 58

Ohio clinches the #1 tournament seed and the outright regular season championship with the win combined with CMU's loss. CMU, Ball State and Toledo fill out the remainder of the top 4 seeds with the bye into the quarterfinals, although the order of their finish may change. Akron, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Buffalo will have seeds #5 through #8 and will host first round games. Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Kent State and Miami will be the road teams for those game, with seeds #9 - #12. Again, the order of the finish may change within those groupings with one game to play.

Kiyanna Black had a poor first half shooting the ball tonight, and the Falcons were up 35-31 at the break on the strength of some excellent ball movement and sharp shooting. But Black reeled off 9 straight points to start the second half, and went on to put up 29 for the game to lead the Bobcats to the win. BG kept things close until about midway through the fourth quarter, but ultimately could not overcome their 20 turnovers, including 13 Ohio steals, that led to 21 Ohio points.

Only two Bobcats connected on three-pointers in the game -- Black was 7-14 and center Jasmine Weatherspoon was a surprising 3-4. Everyone else was 0-14 combined. Ohio's bench was once again AWOL when it came to scoring points, with a grand total of 4 -- all on free throws by Hannah Boesinger.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

It was a story book finish that happened so fast I missed the shot and it caught a lot of people off guard as well.

With five seconds left on the game clock, Ball State's Carmen Grande took the inbound and instead of sitting on it to kill the clock and risk a score and a foul from Northern, she passed the ball to Nathalie Fontaine who was at the half court line. With Grande screaming GOGOGOGOGOGONATTYGOGO, Fontaine raced to the basket for the layup and then killed the entire arena. The basket gave Fontaine 23 points, which is what she needed to overtake Tamara Bowie as Ball State's all time leading scorer. Having Mom, Big Sister and Baby Nephew in the stands did not hurt, either.

State beat the Huskies 76-68, but it was not easy. Northern's Cassidy Glenn and Courtney Woods teamed up to shoot 54.5% from behind the line in the first half and build a 12 point lead. The Cards came out the second half with the press which totally ruined Northern's game plan.

Moriah Monaco must have used up her allotment of shots at Eastern because she had goose eggs on her line. However, Shelby Merder wanted to make her last game in Johnny memorable by going 3-4 from long range. Calyn Hosea got the start in the two in place if Jill Morrison and absolutely earned it. She played as if she owned the court and Morrison should not take for granted she will get her start back once she is fully cleared. And she may be cleared for some action in Cleveland.

Big story is how Renee Bennett is evolving into a scoring machine and a total beast. She is big, she is bad, she is good, she is not afraid to knock someone on the deck and her confidence level and work ethic is phenomenal. In short, she does not have Mary Jo Noon Syndrome. Even with the Homer Factor removed, she is a legit contender for 2016 DPOY and perhaps 2017 POY.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

Final games of the regular season today. Senior days:

Akron: Megan Barilla, Anita Brown, DiAndra Gibson

Miami: Tamira Ford, Hannah McCue, Jessica Rupright

Buffalo: Karin Moss

Toledo: Ana Capotosto, Brenae Harris

Central Michigan: Da'Jourie Turner, Chelsea Lynn

Northern Illinois: Lacia Gorman, Natecia Augusta

Kent State has no seniors on the roster this season.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[BallState1984]

As tournament times comes around, the student newspaper at Ball State remembers the greatest game of all time

http://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2016/03/sports-oral-history

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

That was a great article -- I still remember watching that game with a sense of disbelief. The Cardinals had some tough cookies on that team. And speaking of tough, I see that Jill Morrison played today only a few games after breaking her foot.

Back from Oxford after watching Ohio beat Miami 77-58. Ohio had a 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, and although the RedHawks made some runs after that, the Bobcats always had an answer. Among the starters, Quiera Lampkins had a strong game with 16 points and 5 assists, and Jasmine Weatherspoon added 12 on 6-8 shooting around the rim. But Lexie Baldwin fouled out in just 6 minutes of play (!), and Kiyanna Black scored just 9 points and was again T'd up. Sigh.

Once in a while, Tmisht Stinson turns in a performance that shows what she could be, and today was one of those games. 11 points on 5-6 shooting, 7 rebounds in 17 minutes of play. Can she do it two games in a row? And Dominique Doseck broke out of a shooting slump so emphatically that the Miami fans were asking me who she was. They were also asking if Bob Boldon was going to take the Wisconsin job. I got the impression they would be happy to see him leave the MAC, for some reason.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

The tournament starts today with first round games at campus sites. Looks like all games will be on ESPN3, except for the game at Akron, which has its own stream through its website. http://gozips.sidearmsports.com/watch/?Live=198

The winners will move on to the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

#9 Bowling Green (6-12) at #8 Buffalo ( 8-10), 5:30 P.M. ET. Buffalo won both meetings between the teams during the regular season. Winner will face #1 Ohio (16-2).

#12 Miami (3-15) at #5 Akron (11-7), 7:00 P.M. ET. Akron won both meetings. Winner will face #4 Toledo (12-6).

#10 Northern Illinois (4-14) at #7 Western Michigan (8-10), 7:00 P.M. ET. The teams split their two regular season meetings. Winner will face #2 Central Michigan (14-4).

#11 Kent State (3-15) at #6 Eastern Michigan (10-8), 5:00 P.M. ET. EMU won the only regular season meeting. Winner will face #3 Ball State (13-5).

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

All-MAC teams were announced today, with POY, COY and FOY awards to come tomorrow.

[BallState1984]

Sorry, Frannie Frazier hands down Sixth Man of year

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[Joe Foss]

No upsets in the first round yesterday, as all four home teams won by double digits.

Buffalo 60, Bowling Green 44
Akron 66, Miami 54
Western Michigan 94, Northern Illinois 52
Eastern Michigan 73, Kent State 60

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

http://www.mac-sports.com/news/2016/3/8/WBB_0308163722.aspx

Nathalie Fontaine (Ball State) POY
Sue Guevara (CMU) COY
Presley Hudson (CMU) FOY

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[Joe Foss]

Quarterfinal day today at the Q! Sounds like a good reason to take the day off. The games begin at noon, and all will be available on ESPN3.

#8 Buffalo vs. #1 Ohio, 12:00 P.M. The Bulls won both regular season meetings against the Bobcats, the only defeats Ohio had in the MAC. So it will be interesting to see what adjustments Ohio makes to counter Buffalo's defensive pressure out of their 2-3 zone, which completely stymied Ohio's 3-point attack in the earlier games.

#5 Akron vs. #4 Toledo, 2:30 P.M. Akron won the only meeting this season.

#7 Western Michigan vs. #2 Central Michigan, 5:00 P.M. Central swept the series, 2-0.

#6 Eastern Michigan vs. #3 Ball State, 7:30 P.M. Ball State won both regular season games.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[colt13]

[Queenie]

Does Ohio have the resume to merit at-large consideration?

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Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.

[colt13]

[shadowboxer]

I would be shocked if OU received a bid, for the same reasons argued here year after year. And now, with the 5 Conf. deal, with teams like Purdue on the bubble, not even a consideration, no matter how OU performed, and I am very sorry, Joe.

Will be watching Toledo play Akron on MAC site, knowing Toledo will have to bring their A game, reduce turnovers, have a pressing defense,esp.against 3 pt shooters, and hit a high % of shots, perimeter, inside, and foul shots. They have played at this level many times, but now must bring it consistently, confidently, with swagger from here on throughout the tourney.

Go Rockets! You can do this!

[summertime blues]

And all of this is why I really hate tournaments when it comes to the mid-majors. They generally only get one bid per conference, and a team that performs admirably all year can be ignored if they lose in the tournament, just because they are a mid-major, in favor of a P5 team with a less than stellar record and likely a less than stellar OOC schedule as well.

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Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[Joe Foss]

Back from Cleveland, where I felt like I watched the same movie for the third time - and a bad movie at that. Buffalo pretty much took away the three point shot with a 2-3 zone, making sure that Kiyanna Black never got a clean look. Ohio still managed to hang around for three quarters, even building a small lead. But in the fourth quarter, the Bulls left Ohio in the dust in an offensive explosion led by Joanna Smith and Stephanie Reid. About the only bright spot for Ohio was the game played by Quiera Lampkins, who scored 23, repeatedly slicing through the Bulls defense and scoring at the rim.

After Buffalo's second victory against Ohio, head coach Bob Boldon said it appeared that Buffalo was a better team than Ohio, and you can't argue that point after the third win for the Bulls. Still, this is a team that went 6-10 against the rest of the league in conference play. They must have some weaknesses, but it's hard to spot any when they play the Bobcats.

This year's Ohio team will register another first - they will be the first Ohio team to play in the WNIT. I hope they have the resilience to play competitively in that tournament, despite the disappointing end to the NCAA tourney hopes.

Quarterfinal scores from today:

Buffalo 72, Ohio 60
Akron 73, Toledo 71 (OT)
Central Michigan 66, Western Michigan 62
Eastern Michigan 67, Ball State 53

So three of the top four seeds get knocked out in the quarters. #2 CMU is the only survivor.

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Ohio Bobcats WBB Fan

[SpaceJunkie]

[BallState1984]

Tell you what Joe, I have a box of razor blades I can share. I thought Ball State walked off the court early in the second quarter and decided to let Cha Sweeney do whatever she darn well pleased. She only had 29 points and five boards. Fontaine was held to 14 points. Monaco and Morrison are still mired in shooting slumps and that did not help. I was all set to whine about the bad calls the Cards got, but a look at the final showed the Hurons had one more called against them.

I was really irked by the PBP radio guy for Ball State that was more focused on describing what the players and coaches were wearing rather than paying attention to the action. I was mad enough to have a Twitter rant.

Looks like I will get yardwork done this weekend between thunderstorms. BSU Alumni Association had a deal that would cost me about $60 to take a bus to Cleveland, the ticket and snacks and the first adult beverage at the pep rally and I was all ready to reserve my spot. Figured I would spend that much on gas, parking and crap to eat at the Q and not figuring in the cost of my postgame meal downtown and perhaps a T-shirt. Well, I can go spend my money on something else.

I am too not a fan of how mediocre teams from the Numerically Challenged Confence and BEast go to the NCAA tournament and the Mids get skunked. Personally, I don't think Purdue should go to the NCAA.

I am rambling and and broken hearted.

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Terminally afffected with Our Girl Syndrome and proud of it!

[summertime blues]